A former two-day "Jeopardy!" champion from Raleigh is facing 10 new felony charges in Wake County, North Carolina, after police obtained an arrest warrant accusing him of duplicating child sexual abuse material. The charges are allegations, and he has not been convicted of them.
Source: Sam Walker OBX News
Philip Joseph "Joey" DeSena, 44, of Raleigh, is charged with 10 counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, according to an arrest warrant issued on Thursday and obtained by Raleigh police. The warrant alleges that DeSena duplicated image and video files depicting minors in sexual activity, and lists the alleged offense date as November 19, 2025. No victim is identified in the reporting, and none is named here.
Source: Sam Walker OBX News
WRAL reported on Friday that DeSena was being held without bond and was scheduled to appear in court on Monday, October 26.
Source: WRAL
Already on probation from an earlier case
The new charges were filed while DeSena was on probation. On July 27, a Currituck County Superior Court judgment recorded that he had pleaded guilty to felony secret peeping in a case involving hidden cameras at a vacation rental in Corolla, on North Carolina's Outer Banks. Judge R. Andrew Womble imposed a prison sentence of 6 to 17 months, suspended in favour of 60 months of supervised probation, along with 100 hours of community service and a $1,000 fine.
Source: Sam Walker OBX News
The Currituck case stemmed from an October 10, 2025 incident at a rental home in Corolla's Pine Island neighbourhood. A grand jury indictment returned in January alleged that cameras had been secretly installed in a bathroom and a bedroom; DeSena originally faced two felony secret-peeping counts in that county.
Source: Sam Walker OBX News
DeSena won two games of "Jeopardy!" in November 2024 and later returned for the show's Champions Wildcard tournament, where he reached the semifinals. The Wake County case now moves to its first court appearance on Monday, and the allegations in the warrant will have to be proved in court.
Source: WRAL